Thursday Late Night Reads

Ball of Fire starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck...wow, look at those legs!

Evening all, Minx here and I thought I would post some links to get you through the night.

Right now I am enjoying the movie The Glass Key with Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, and Brian Donlevy. I have never seen this movie, but The Blue Dahlia is one of my favorites. I just love Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake together. Anyway, this past Sunday TCM had a tribute to Elizabeth Taylor…and of course they showed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. While watching it I realized that Dustin Hoffman had to have used the actress who played Big Mamma, Judith Anderson, as inspiration for his role in Tootsie. Can you see it? Dorothy Michaels is Big Mamma Pollitt…same southern accent, same hairdo, same emotional outburst.

Be sure to check out what TCM has scheduled for this coming Saturday, April 16th at 8pm EST…Ball of Fire . This is another great movie, with Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck  and Dana Andrews.  Written by Billy Wilder, the dialogue is fabulous and witty.

Okay, enough of that…here are some interesting and newsworthy links for you tonight.

As Dakinikat posted earlier today, before the MSM picked up the story…(Kudos Kat!) Kucinich asks Scott Walker Some Good Questions « Sky Dancing

Walker  admits that stripping workers of collective bargaining has nothing to do with saving money but has everything to do with “giving people the right to choose”.  Congressman Dennis Kucinich asks a series of questions that puts Walker on the spot.  Notice that there’s an irregular move by the committee chair to block evidence placed into the hearing records also.  Stripping people’s rights appears to be the Republican way these days.

Not only did Dennis Kucinich get Scott Walker to admit what we all already knew…it seems that Anthony Weiner got a GOP rep to admit that Ryan’s plan makes Medicare a voucher plan.

Anthony Weiner Gets GOP Rep To Admit Ryan Plan Equals Vouchers, End to Medicare | Crooks and Liars

On The Last Word, Anthony Weiner maneuvered Rep Jack Kingston (R-GA) into admitting that the Ryan plan ends Medicare and converts it to a voucher plan.

What’s so funny about this is how hard Boehner has been working to deny it, because of course, vouchers equal privatization. So Boehner’s out there laying it down saying no, it’s not privatization, it’s transformation. We all know it’s bull but then who cares, because he’s doubling down on Ryan’s plan after the President’s speech anyway in order to appease the Tea Party and his insurance company keepers happy.

Isn’t it great to see these GOP politicians admit the truth? Speaking of GOP politicians, and a lack of truth or fact…Jon Kyl’s ‘factual statement’ flap comes full circle – Jennifer Epstein – POLITICO.com

Kirsten Gillibrand, left, and Tom Harkin, right, have been making light of John Kyl’s flap. | AP Photos | AP Photo

“Not intended to be a factual statement,” the comment made by a spokesperson for Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and transformed by comedian Stephen Colbert into a pop culture meme has come nearly full circle, as Democrats have begun to use the phrase on the Senate floor.

The first quip came Wednesday from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a floor speech defending Planned Parenthood, the program that Kyl attacked last week, claiming that 90 percent of the group’s activities were abortion-related. The actual number is closer to 3 percent. A Kyl staffer defended the comment by explaining it “was not intended to be a factual statement.”

“For my friends and colleagues, this is a factual statement,” Gillibrand said. “Current law already prevents federal money from paying for abortions. This has been the law of the land for over 30 years. Shutting down the government for a political argument is not only outrageous, it is irresponsible. The price for keeping the government open is this assault on women’s rights.”

Read the rest of the article at the link to see who else got some jabs in.

Here are a few other links you may find interesting:

Congress Passes Budget Bill, but Some in G.O.P. Balk – NYTimes.com

The House on Thursday passed compromise legislation to finance the federal government through the end of the fiscal year in September. The vote brought one budget clash to a close even as the Democrats and Republicans prepared for another.

The vote was 260 to 167, with 59 Republicans breaking ranks with their party leadership to vote against the deal, which calls for $38 billion in spending cuts this year. The Republican defections, a result of opposition from conservatives who said the bill did not do enough to rein in spending, forced the House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio, to turn to Democrats to pass the bill and keep the government from shutting down.

Senator Levin Claims Goldman Execs Perjured Themselves Before Congress on Mortgage Testimony « naked capitalism

As readers may know, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations just issued another report, Wall Street and the Financial Crisis. This is a far more focused and damning document than the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report, which was produced at considerably more expense and was undermined by dissent among its commissioners (which in fairness appears to have been by design).

Nobody Wants to Take CFPB Job Over Elizabeth Warren | FDL News Desk

The Wall Street Journal dropped a bit of a bombshell yesterday when it intimated that the reason the Obama Administration hasn’t been able to choose a director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is that their preferred candidates don’t want the job over Elizabeth Warren:

And for the last link, this is sooooo cool!

What The Japan Earthquake Sounded Like… Underwater (AUDIO) | TPM Idea Lab

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Vents Program at Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Oregon State University didn’t feel the massive earthquake that struck off Japan on March 11. But they did hear it.

An underwater microphone located near the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, 900 miles from the quake epicenter, captured the sound of the disaster on tape, and a portion of the recording has now been put up on YouTube.

The recording has been sped up 16 times. First comes the roar of the earthquake sounds “propagating through the earth’s crust,” then you hear a second roar of the sounds “propagating through the ocean.”

Think of this as an open thread, what are you doing tonight?